Brussels, 22/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - During a two-day visit to Serbia on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 April, Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner discussed with Serb President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic and Finance Minister Mirko Cvetkovic the new opportunities for cooperation between the EU and Serbia via the new instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA). On Wednesday, Ms Hübner will hand over to Mr Djelic the financing agreement for the participation of Serbia in the EU-funded transnational cooperation programme, “South-East Europe”, 2007-2013. On 4 April 2008, the European Commission and Serbia signed a financial agreement for an IPA 2007 programme. A total of €167 million was earmarked for use in 37 projects, including a project dealing with regional socio-economic development worth €21 million, the Commission states in a press release.
On 20 December 2007, the Commission approved the transnational cooperation programme “South East Europe” for the period 2007-2013. The programme comprises Community support for regions of 16 countries (member states, candidate states, potential candidate countries and third countries). The total budget of the programme is €245 million and ERDF support amounts to €206 million, the Commission points out in a press release. Information: http: //ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm (G.B.)